No wonder Adam had trounced Conall’s attempts at hacking so handily. And no wonder the TechCorps couldn’t touch Savitri. She had a miraculously sentient AI trained in combat and strategy running her security.
She was probably the safest out of all of them.
“Information will be good in the long run,” Knox agreed. “But we already know what’s going on inside right now. They’re in turmoil. Richter was the scary monster who kept order on the Hill. Right now, everyone with power is going to be scrambling to solidify their base, and everyone who wants power is plotting to step on someone else to get ahead.”
Syd’s grin was utterly predatory. “Sounds like a fun time to fuck with them.”
Yes.
It had always been an impossible dream before. The hellfire she wished upon them while she took her tiny victories, her petty crime and her rebellious but invisible middle fingers. The TechCorps had always been so massive, and she was so small …
Maya let her gaze drift around the table, taking in everyone. Dani and Nina—her first family. Conall and Knox and Rafe, the brothers she’d never known she needed. Gray, the man she loved.
The man who loved her.
Maya didn’t feel small anymore.
But there were allies around this table, too. Dangerous allies. Mace, whose commitment to saving lives went so bone deep, even Tobias Richter hadn’t been able to torture it out of him. Savitri and her terrifying genius, and Adam, who was the terrifying result of her genius. Mysterious Syd, who had already confused and concerned the TechCorps with her single-minded mission. Jaden, who had built a smuggling empire under the TechCorps’ nose and used it to constantly undermine their grasp on power.
Ava, who would set the whole damn world on fire if it made Nina happy.
For the first time, her dreams of righteous hellfire didn’t seem so implausible. Maya found herself smiling, too. “Honestly? Fucking up the TechCorps sounds pretty damn good.”
“That’s a dangerous game,” Savitri noted with an utterly predatory smile. “I love dangerous games.”
“Are there any other kinds worth playing?” Syd retorted. “Besides, I’m already fighting them and a dozen other bastards besides. Been doing it most of my damn life.”
“So have I,” Jaden said quietly. “But I don’t think any of us can afford to keep fighting them alone. You know what they’ll do if they feel threatened by the loss of Richter.”
“They’ll crack down,” Knox said quietly. “It’s probably already starting. Winter is a good time for it. People are cold and hungry. Can’t worry about revolution if people are just trying to stay alive.”
“Technically this wouldn’t be a revolution,” Ava noted. “A revolution generally involves the overthrow of an existing government. The TechCorps never officially established one.”
Conall groaned. “Does her pedantic dictionary setting come with an off switch?”
But Rafe leaned forward, bracing his weight on his elbows. “I hate giving Ava any credit at all, ever, but she has a point. The revolution already happened back in ’42, when the government collapsed and the TechCorps took over. These are just neglectful dictators with profit sharing.”
“Oligarchs,” Ava supplied.
Conall leaned forward and thumped his head against the table.
“We can settle on the correct terminology later.” Knox’s voice was firm. “In the short term, we have to consider the cold reality of this. All of our faces could be spread across the vid network tomorrow. They could declare a city-wide bounty on us. Or they could just decide to squeeze every neighborhood so hard everyone’s too tired to think about fighting back.”
“They’re doing that already,” Jaden said. “Like you said. Winter’s coming. Most everyone just cares about staying alive.”
Maya braced her hands on the table. “So that’s how we fight. On two fronts. We use my contacts to weaken them from the inside. And we use everyone else’s to help people stay alive.”
“A noble goal.”
They all whirled toward the kitchen at the sound of the new voice. John stood in the hallway leading from the back door, calm and collected, heedless of the fresh round of curses Dani ground out.
“I swear to fucking Christ, I will shoot the next person who does that,” she spat.
He just blinked at her, then turned his attention to Knox and Nina. “If you’re going up against the TechCorps, you’ll need someone on the inside.”
Rafe leaned across the table, eyes narrowed. “And how, exactly, do we know we can trust you, Professor?”
“You don’t,” he replied. “But you’re talking about a full-scale uprising. Can you afford to turn away allies?”
Maya waited for someone to answer him, but silence hung heavy in the kitchen. Knox was looking at her. So was Gray, and Conall. Rafe and Dani and even Nina. Realization swept over her like a cold wind. For all her agonizing over when and how to use her power, for all her eagerness to see what she could do—somehow she had forgotten the stark reality of the situation.
This wasn’t like a mission, where Nina and Knox would make the battle plans and she’d get to simply fall in line. She was the one who’d been raised for this. Trained for it. She’d grown up inside the beating heart of the monster. She knew the secret pressure points and the points of leverage. She knew where to find allies, who to trust, who to avoid. How to fight them. How to destroy them.
If she took this step, she wouldn’t just be the heir to Birgitte’s fight. She’d be the leader of her own.
For a chilling moment, the sheer responsibility of it terrified her. A sheltered girl from the Hill had no right to make decisions that might impact the lives of millions. If she chose wrong, life could get worse. And people would die if she did this. Maybe people she knew. People she loved.
Panic tightened her chest. She almost opened her mouth to shove the whole mess of it back into Nina’s lap. Nina would never fault her for it. She’d shoulder the burden and do her best.
Gray’s hand closed around hers. She looked to the side and found him staring back at her, his blue eyes warm, his smile just for her. “Trust yourself,” he whispered.
Maybe he’d finally remembered that moment in Richter’s torture chamber. Maybe he didn’t and this was just what came automatically to his lips. His faith in her was unshakeable. Gray would make himself into a human shield or a weapon or a revolutionary. Whatever she wanted.
She just had to trust herself as much as he trusted her.
Maya blew out a breath. She squeezed Gray’s hand in gratitude and turned back to the table. This time she barely felt the weight of all those gazes. She could do this. She could do anything.
“Okay, y’all,” she drawled. “Let’s get to work.”
March 19th, 2081
I’ve done my best to prepare for every eventuality. I’d like to think that it will be enough, that someday I’ll laugh at myself for my paranoia. Perhaps Marjorie and I will laugh together.
Diana is leaving at dawn with this journal and my instructions for Marjorie’s inheritance. I suppose I have one last letter to write. The hardest.
There will be no absolution for me.